As the debate partner of future Congresswoman Barbara Jordan in 1956, black college student Otis King engaged and beat Harvard University's team when most of America was still legally segregated.

As a Texas Southern University law student, King's sit-in strategy helped integrate public establishments in Houston. After earning a post-doctoral law degree from Harvard and serving as dean of TSU's law school, he broke another barrier in 1976 by becoming the first black city attorney in Houston.

King died the day before Thanksgiving after a second battle with prostate cancer. He was 77.

He is being remembered as a man who transformed Houston, TSU and history.

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Saved the law school

A half-century ago, there were rumblings that the TSU law school, with a few dozen students and no building of its own, would merge or close. As dean, King was responsible for an enrollment explosion and free-standing building credited with the school's survival.

"Otis came in, increased the size of the law school, improved the image in the community and obtained a separate structure and named it after the great Thurgood Marshall," said former TSU president and law school dean James Douglas. "One of the reasons we were vulnerable in the '60s is that we were so small. Since increasing the number of law graduates, we've been a much bigger player."

Otis Harold King was born on Feb. 3, 1935, in Texarkana to Eula and Griffin King. About five years later, the family moved to Houston. King grew up in Fifth Ward and was Wheatley High School's 1952 salutatorian.

After graduating from TSU, King served as an Army medic. He returned to the campus for a law degree and ended up changing the course of history as a founder of the Progressive Youth Association, a group involved in Houston's sit-in movement that desegregated restaurants, theaters and other public facilities.

"Otis was a strategist. Otis was a smart guy," said Holly Hogrobrooks, 72, a group co-founder. "Otis was one of the people that made the Houston sit-ins successful."

Through the 1960s, King would earn a law degree, co-found a law firm, become the first black person to serve as a National Labor Relations Board field attorney in Texas and start a career teaching at the TSU law school. He was serving as the school's dean when he accepted the historic assignment as city attorney.

"He was outstanding, well-respected by everyone, and he earned their respect," said former Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz, adding that the late 1970s was a period of hiring people of color into city government positions for the first time. "Otis was one of those pioneers. … He was an excellent city attorney and silenced all critics."

Artist, author

In addition to his legal pursuits, King was a painter and sculptor. He published two legal textbooks and a novel.

"Otis, to me, was a renaissance man," said Douglas, now a TSU vice president. "Otis was not just a lawyer. He did a lot of different things outside of the legal profession. I think he represented one of our brightest stars."

All of King's accomplishments were leavened with humility, according to his eldest son.

"We knew what he did, but he always was just Daddy to us," Byron D. King said. "He wanted us to realize that no matter how big you become - never forget where you come from and who you are."

Otis King is survived by another son, Corey R. King, and his sons' wives; a stepson, Joncy Rickett, and four grandchildren as well as a brother, Hamah King, and his wife.

Services will be Saturday at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 N. MacGregor Way. Viewing begins at 9 a.m. followed by an 11 a.m. funeral.